Lake Apopka Panel To Hear Report On Status Of Restoration

May 25, 1986|By Ramsey Campbell of The Sentinel Staff

The Lake Apopka Restoration Council has scheduled a meeting at 9 a.m. Friday at the St. Johns River Water Management District office on East South Street, Orlando, to get a status report on plans to restore the polluted lake. Earlier this year, the governor-appointed council agreed on a series of pilot projects aimed at finding the best approach to cleaning up the lake, which has been polluted over the years from effluent discharges by surrounding muck farms, citrus interests and municipalities.

The council in March recommended a $413,300 water quality study of the lake, as well as $181,000 for experiments with fish harvesting, alum treatment and lake fluctuation to remove harmful nutrients. In addition, the council set aside some funds to restore shoreline vegetation as well as the marshland between the lake and Lake Carlton.

Last year, the Legislature earmarked funds for those projects as well as $1.5 million for an experiment to determine how effective water hyacinths would be in removing excessive nutrients in the water.

The council had proposed a less costly hyacinth project in another lake, but Florida Attorney General Jim Smith ruled last month that the hyacinth experiment had to be conducted on Lake Apopka. Council members said most of the cost would be in isolating a 50-acre test site on Lake Apopka from the rest of the lake.

Council officials said the cost of the hyacinth project is expected to be around $2.1 million -- $600,000 more than the Legislature has approved for the study.

The St. Johns Water Management District, responsible for overseeing the council recommendations, tried to scale down the size and cost of the project. However, Ed Lowe, a technical representative from the district on the council, said that has proved impractical.

''We're just going to put it out to bid and see what happens,'' he said. ''Maybe we'll be surprised about the cost.''

The council also will be talking about developing land-use guidelines around the lake and an Orange County proposal for disposal of dredge material. A spokesman for the Thames Water Authority, a British environmental consultant group, also is expected to make a presentation to the council.